Impact
To paraphrase Ezra Pound, great chocolate is news that stays news.
Take Milk Chocolate -- been around officially since 1879 -- its truths objective, necessary & timeless.
By adding salt & "gin" to this mainstay, Hotel Chocolat keeps it news.
Take Milk Chocolate -- been around officially since 1879 -- its truths objective, necessary & timeless.
By adding salt & "gin" to this mainstay, Hotel Chocolat keeps it news.
Appearance 4.6 / 5
| Color: | deep mauve milk |
| Surface: | the Hotel's signature slats |
| Temper: | glistens |
| Snap: | a league of its own -- semi-pro -- in keeping with a Dark-Milk between Milk & Dark |
Aroma 8 / 10
no mistaking
full-on
self-evidence
full-on
self-evidence
Mouthfeel 13.2 / 15
| Texture: | thick / turgid |
| Melt: | take a seat |
Flavor 42.6 / 50
Salt
Lot 15231; 2014 Harvest
bangs in instant Milk Choc -> salt a slow developer which then lifts a caramel-lava in its tow -> deep mocha-toffee -> unexpected, even inexplicable, strawberry at back, at an uncanny sweetness, to cut thru the volcanic chocolate -> closes up malted grains, then kicks it with a real cow's hoof of milk powder burns
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, whole cream powder, cocoa butter, sea salt, lecithin
Gin
Lot 16266; 2014 Harvest
distillls gin essence right off -> melds with chocolate in the guise of juniper berry (for the obvious reason… one [gin] derives from the other [juniper], as well as the actual element - see list of ingredients) -> stays converted like this until sublimated into a schizandra roll
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, whole cream powder, cocoa butter, juniper oil, lecithin
Lot 15231; 2014 Harvest
bangs in instant Milk Choc -> salt a slow developer which then lifts a caramel-lava in its tow -> deep mocha-toffee -> unexpected, even inexplicable, strawberry at back, at an uncanny sweetness, to cut thru the volcanic chocolate -> closes up malted grains, then kicks it with a real cow's hoof of milk powder burns
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, whole cream powder, cocoa butter, sea salt, lecithin
Gin
Lot 16266; 2014 Harvest
distillls gin essence right off -> melds with chocolate in the guise of juniper berry (for the obvious reason… one [gin] derives from the other [juniper], as well as the actual element - see list of ingredients) -> stays converted like this until sublimated into a schizandra roll
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, sugar, whole cream powder, cocoa butter, juniper oil, lecithin
Quality 15.9 / 20
37 minutes in the roaster at 130ºC / 265ºF + 120 hours in the hopper largely shapes the outcomes here, imprinting a maker's mark on the underlying base.
Salt, common enough, both as a mineral found throughput the world & in chocolate bars around it nowadays. But juniper berry? Well, that presents a different, rather rare, inclusion.
Clever name to slip this by as an alcoholics dry-dream when in fact it relies on its source -- juniper. Other than Madagascan cacáo, which above all others often inheres with juniper-inflections (though none added in actuality), this flavor tag seldom enters the lexicon of chocolate. And no one to date in the premium scene has yet to confect the two by adding juniper to chocolate.
While the union here neither succeeds nor fails outright (the oil too strong & the base too incompatible), it presents a welcome novelty worth exploring.
Reviewed September 29, 2015
Salt, common enough, both as a mineral found throughput the world & in chocolate bars around it nowadays. But juniper berry? Well, that presents a different, rather rare, inclusion.
Clever name to slip this by as an alcoholics dry-dream when in fact it relies on its source -- juniper. Other than Madagascan cacáo, which above all others often inheres with juniper-inflections (though none added in actuality), this flavor tag seldom enters the lexicon of chocolate. And no one to date in the premium scene has yet to confect the two by adding juniper to chocolate.
While the union here neither succeeds nor fails outright (the oil too strong & the base too incompatible), it presents a welcome novelty worth exploring.
Reviewed September 29, 2015